I remember being hesitant when I read the email from my auntie asking me if I wanted to go in on a little beach house for a “girls only” weekend getaway. My mind flooded with every reason why I couldn’t and shouldn’t go. Who would take care of the day to day stuff around the house? How was my husband going to handle being the only parent for 48 entire hours? Who was going to do the dishes and wash the clothes? Would he remember to give the animals their medicine? I suddenly envisioned my daughter jumping up and down on the couches at 10 o’clock at night and eating ice cream all weekend…..and then it hit me. I should be the one jumping on couches somewhere into the night and eating ice cream all weekend. I needed to not be responsible. I needed to not have to cook a meal, or wash a dish, or do the laundry. I needed to be me, and not a mother, or a wife for two whole days.

We made it happen and three weeks later I was heading down to a cottage in Old Lyme, CT. There was a short lived twinge of guilt as I backed out of my driveway leaving my not so enthused husband and daughter behind. I had to chant to myself over and over, “You deserve this. You deserve this. You deserve this,” and after about thirty seconds, I embraced the mantra and really believed it. The guilt was gone and I was determined to savor the next 48 hours of some uninterrupted me time.

As I pulled up to the cottage, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw one of my aunties come out. It is such an incredible feeling to see someone you love so much so excited to see you too…someone that truly gets you and what you are going through on a day to day basis. We are all moms, so the first words out of her mouth were, “forget your husband, forget your job and the kids…….this is our weekend. It is about us and not doing anything for anyone.”

“Done” I said.

And so it began. We played games, drank wine, and shared stories about each other…….we laughed so hard that we cried, and we cried so hard that we laughed and decided we were not going to wait seven years to do this again.

There will always be laundry to do, and dishes to clean, but life is too short to live it and not love it. You just need to get away.

This past weekend, my sister and I went to a workshop given by Andy Dooley called, “Vibration Activation.” It was about the law of attraction and how to get what you want out of life by using certain techniques to sort of re-train your thought processes. One particular exercise we did was to tell our story, because we all have one, and to take that story, that is filled with pain, fear and uncertainty, and change it. Andy’s goal was to help us create a new belief, to put us in a better feeling place, which ultimately would help us overcome whatever obstacle that was holding us back from getting us what we wanted.

When asking for volunteers, a man by the name of Mike came up on stage to share his story. He was in real estate, trying to make it, but not really being able to, while having an amazing and beautiful daughter, who was only 16 months old, and a wife, who was soon to be his ex on his plate. He exposed his fears of not being a good father, or having enough money to provide, piece by piece to all two hundred of us audience members. With each layer he exposed, my heart ached for him. You could tell he was trying very hard not to cry while he told his story. As he spoke, my inner voice whispered, “go up and hug him”. It would’ve been easy enough because I was sitting in the front row, but I had this other voice telling me he was a stranger and after all, why would I get up and hug a strange man on a stage in front of almost two hundred people?

I still though, couldn’t get it out of my mind that I needed to get up and go hug this man. I too have a daughter, and can’t fathom the thought of going from seeing her everyday, to just certain days, or weekends. I literally felt his pain and my own eyes began to tear.

When Mike was affirming back to Andy his new thought process, “that’s right, I have the most beautiful daughter in the universe,” he began to break down in a controlled sort of fashion. It was the kind of cry where you really had no control, but tried to control it, yet there was no stopping it. And as tears streamed down his face, as casually as he could let them, my insides turned outside. My whisper turned into a scream and in my head it shouted, “GET UP AND GO HUG THIS MAN!” It was like an itch that I HAD to scratch.

And so I did. Without hesitation, I went up on the stage and opened my arms. I hugged him with all of my might and I cried with him. I was truly in the moment and had never experienced anything like it before. He thanked me for the hug and I told him this wasn’t his forever, it was just his today. I went back to my seat feeling a sense of peace like no other. I doubt that Mike knows it, but he was the one who actually gave ME a gift yesterday. He helped me overcome my own fear of worrying about what other people would think when I gave him that hug.

I believe that life is too short to let moments pass us by like that. Had I not hugged him, I would’ve wished I did for the rest of my life. So thank you Andy Dooley for motivating me yesterday and teaching me that at any given moment, I can start a new belief, and let go of the old. A new vibration is all we need to take us out of our comfort zones, and as you may already know, that my friend, is where the magic happens. XOXOXOXO

I have an amazing room in my house that used to be “the office”. You know, a place where crap was thrown down, where bills piled up, in a sense, a room that wasn’t really used, but rather a dumping ground for what my husband and I didn’t want to deal with right away. And after being sick of five years of the piling up and a room that wasn’t really functional, I finally transformed it into my own space and made it a meditation room.

If you were to ask my seven-year old nephew what it now looked like, he would appropriately call it “Auntie’s Fancy Room”, which I think is perfect! Pretty white lights hang on the terracotta walls and a large mirror reflects the 3 bay windows letting double the natural light in. I have 2 bookcases filled with my little treasures and books. A large framed picture of my girlfriends and I overlooking the ocean sits on the wall beneath a large beautiful piece of art that spells out the word, “BELIEVE”. It is my haven. It is my thinking space. It is where I go when I need to let go of my day.

Every night, I light some incense and stare at the picture of my friends looking out at the deep blue ocean, and I imagine the endless possibilities. What are those waves bringing into my life? What does the universe or God have in store for me? I let it all wash over me. I think about the day and the drama, and I give it all back. With a few deep breaths, I let it cleanse my soul, and truly let go of the stress. If I didn’t do that, then I just might ponder too long on a thought and take something personally that wasn’t my issue in the first place.

It happens all too often and it’s a shame really, how we tend to take on other people’s drama in the blink of an eye. We are so quick to react to life, instead of taking that much-needed destressing breath, stepping back, counting to ten, and really think about what should come next. It’s unfortunate that our mouths tend to work quicker than our brains do, because once we put something out there, we can’t take it back. I know that I am guilty of it and I work HARD to bite my tongue on a daily basis.

I think we need to ask ourselves, is it really that important to be right at the risk of losing a relationship, or is it better to be kind and give the other person the benefit of the doubt? We all have our days and I wish that people could see that life itself is about perspective. There is what I see, and there is what others see. And from where I stand, there is no such thing as right or wrong. There just is. Period.

If we were to be facing each other, you and I, and the sun was setting, I would say, “The sun is to my left,” yet, you, opposite me, would say, “No, the sun is to my right,” and we would both be right. That is how I try to look at disagreements, and misunderstandings. It’s all about perspective, and beliefs. Everyone has feelings that are real. We all want the same things; to be heard, loved , and validated.

Try just once in your day to believe that what other people say and do is about them, and their issues, and not about you and yours. Take a deep breath, count to ten, and be kind. I promise you, it will always feel better than being right.

I want her to validate my feelings and hug me when I need it, because even though I’m strong, I need my hand to be held every once in awhile too.

She won’t ever be able to do any of those things though because thirty- three years ago, she took her own life. And the part of me that can’t fathom, as a mom myself, what she did, feels like she took a huge part of my own life with her when she left that December day in 1978.

All I can do is my best. And when I find that piece of advice that my mother might have given me if she were still alive, I share it. And that is what Loving Karma is all about. https://www.facebook.com/LovingKarma

One of my favorite quotes is by Gandhi; “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

In other words, if I want to see more smiling faces, then I need to smile more.

But what about the people who don’t smile back? Do I take it personally and wonder what the hell their problem is, or do I remind myself that it isn’t about me, it’s about them and their issues? While it’s tempting to go with my initial thought, I don’t.

How do I know what is going through someone elses mind at any given moment? Who am I to judge? Why do we all tend to make assumptions about each other? Is the other person automatically a jerk for not reciprocating a smile or could they possibly just have something else going on in their lives that is distracting them from the moment?

Maybe it is as simple as they just didn’t see me smile, or maybe they are struggling with something. Maybe they are in deep thought about a recent diagnosis of a loved one, or replaying an argument in their mind that they just had with their spouse. Or, they could be wondering how they are going to get by this week with just $4 left in their pocket and a family to feed. There are millions of reasons why,and not one of them has to do with me.

So the next time you smile and someone doesn’t smile back, try not to take it personally and just keep smiling ; )

Did you ever hear the story about the man who was late to work one morning because he had a blister on his heel that was so bad, that he had to stop at a store to get a band-aid? That blister not only made him late to work, but it saved his life. His office was in the World Trade Center and he should’ve been in the towers that morning of September 11, but because of his blister, he was instead at a local pharmacy purchasing band-aids.

I tried explaining this to my 6-year-old last week when we were on our way to my sister’s house, which is by the way, a haven for all of us. Arianna had waited a full week to see her cousins and was soooooo excited that we were finally in route that Sunday morning, until, I realized, that I forgot the cheese and crackers that I was supposed to bring. We were already half way there before it hit me and I had to turn around to go back for it.

Frustrated and crying in the back seat that our normal 20 minute ride would now become a 40 minute ride, she lashed out on me for forgetting what I should’ve remembered to pack in the first place. My response, and I have to stress that I am not a religious person, was that it was God’s way of saving us from an accident. If I didn’t think that way, then I too would’ve been frustrated and crying right along with her. I then shared the September 11th band-aid story with her.

That’s kind of always how I’ve thought though. But why do we tend to assume the worst? Why can’t we just believe that everything happens for a reason? Why can’t the slow person you are stuck behind on a highway during rush hour be your guardian angel saving you from a tragedy? Instead of getting angry, why not acknowledge that if they weren’t in front of you, that you would be going faster than you should be and end up somewhere that you shouldn’t?

I believe that my sweater which snags on the screen door on my way out and holds me up an extra 5 seconds is what saves my life from the accident that JUST happened as I pass it on the highway on my way to work that day.

If only people could smile and thank the 80-year-old in front of them who’s driving too slow instead of honking and passing them with their middle finger up in the air while spewing out profanities.

If only they could have patience and empathy for the 16-year-old behind the cash register who is doing things wrong because it’s their first day instead of scoffing and scowling because they need to be somewhere else……..

Life is too short to be wasted on frustration and feeling inconvenienced. So the next time you’re in route somewhere, and realize you forgot that special something at home…….turn around and be thankful for the inconvenience. You just never know when it may save your life.

Lisa Nichols, a motivational speaker who was featured in one of my favorite movies, The Secret, said something on Oprah that profoundly changed me. And for those of you who don’t know, The Secret is a movie about the Law of Attraction. It is not just about understanding how the law works, but the movie explains how we bring about what we think about all the time.

There was an audience member who had asked the panel of cast members to explain better how it worked, and this was Lisa’s response;

If you were at a restaurant, and you placed an order, you would fully expect it to come to you that way. That’s how the universe works. You are putting out orders, consciously and unconsciously, and you expect it to come back. So if you say “I’ll never have a great relationship,” then you just placed an order. If you said, “Oh, I have the craziest family full of DRAMA,” then you just placed an order. So look at it as you just placed an order at a restaurant and what do you want to come?

I think about that comment every single day, especially when I post something on Facebook. I’m consciously asking myself if what I am writing is what I want to be ordering up. And while I want to bitch about the person who’s yelling at the 17-year-old behind the register at McDonald’s for screwing up her order I don’t. No buts about it. I do not want more people bitching at other people showing up in my life. Instead, I want to share how grateful I am for the crossing guard named George who gave me flower roots to plant in my garden, and my friend Kate who showed up on my birthday this year to give me a bottle of my favorite red wine. I want more sticky face smiles and kisses from my daughter, and a husband who will dance to shake off a bad mood.

So the next time your about to complain, think of Lisa Nichols, and order yourself something that you will WANT to come back to you, because like a boomerang, it ALWAYS does.

Why is that we find it so hard to say no to other people and yes to ourselves? It took me 38 years of trying to please others, not always so successfully, before something finally clicked.

I was a yesser. No matter what was already on my plate, I would say yes to something else and someone else, out of fear of letting them down. If there was a job to be done, and someone had to do it, why not me? I was a stay at home mom. I could do it. I volunteered to be room mom for my daughter’s class, and said yes to running committees for the school PTO. My Mondays were spent helping out in the art room and Friday mornings in the classrooms. I stepped up to co-lead my daughter’s girl scout troop. And now that she was in school full-time, I decided to fit a part-time job in there too. Add on the after school activities of swim lessons, brownies, and taekwon do, and that left me just enough time to get the grocery shopping, laundry, and housecleaning done. I was overdoing it for everyone else, and underdoing it for me.

After two years of stomach problems, requiring 4 prescription pills a day, I decided it was finally time to make a change. And slowly it happened. I started saying no.

I began scheduling things into MY life for ME that Iwanted to do. I went to a chiropractor and an acupuncturist on a regular basis. I made a mandatory girls night EVERY week and promised myself a glass of wine at the end of each day. Never before having the time to read, I splurged and bought myself a nook and got lost in the Outlander series. Subsequently, my stomach problems went away. I no longer needed those pills. All I ever needed was a little more me time.

I met amazing people through all of those yesses, and have no regrets. But now, if there is a job to be done, and someone has to do it, I can say with a smile and without hesitation, “why not someone else?”

I was going to write a story on this, but instead felt compelled to share this interview instead. It was featured in the O Magazine from the October 2001 edition. It is everything I wanted to say and more. Remember to be true to yourself and enjoy!

I never thought I would have just one child. It had always been “my plan” to have at least two and they were going to be two years apart just like my sister and I.

My daughter had taken us nearly four years to conceive so I couldn’t believe it when I became pregnant right away the second time around. And then it happened. My first miscarriage. Just as quickly as it came, my pregnancy went. I had only been a few weeks along, and while I was sad, I still remained hopeful that it would happen again for us, and it did.

This time, I got to see my little peanut. I can still remember laying on the table in my doctors office looking over at the black and white monitor and seeing the little heartbeat for the first time. But two weeks later, I was back in that same office laying on the same table, looking at an empty monitor. The heartbeat was gone and I had lost my baby again.

In life I’ve learned that some things are simply indescribable. My miscarriage is one of them. How can I put words to losing a life that I so desperately wanted? The future I had always thought I would have was no longer. We would be a family of three, instead of four. There would be no brother or sister for our daughter. I would have just one car seat, instead of two.

But that’s just it. I HAVE one car seat. I HAVE a family of three. I HAVE a daughter. And she is amazing, and she is healthy, and she is here.

For me, life is about choices. I can choose to be sad and miserable over what isn’t, or I can choose just as equally to be happy over what is.

But that doesn’t mean I will ever forget. This year my baby would’ve turned five and started kindergarten. And while I will always, always count those birthdays, I will count my blessings too.